DTN Oil Update
Oil Futures Mixed, Following EIA Data and Trump Comments
HOUSTON (DTN) -- Oil futures contracts closed mixed on Thursday following Energy Information Administration data that showed a draw in U.S. crude and diesel stocks, along with a build in gasoline inventories for the week ended Jan. 17.
The EIA said commercial crude oil inventories in the U.S. dropped by 1.0 million bbl to 411.7 million bbl in the week ended Jan. 17.
The EIA data on commercial crude oil inventories was below a 1.0 million bpd increase reported by the American Petroleum Institute Wednesday, Jan. 22, for the same reference week.
API also showed crude oil stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma tank farm, the delivery point for NYMEX WTI futures, added 573,000 bbl.
Downstream, EIA said that gasoline stocks rose by 2.3 million bbl week-over-week to reach 245.9 million bbl, while distillate fuel stocks fell by 3.1 million bbl to 128.9 million bbl last week.
Those figures contrast with a 3.2 million bbl increase in gasoline inventory and a 1.9 million bbl increase in distillate fuel supply reported by the API during the same reference week.
Crude oil throughput edged down for the second consecutive time by 400,000 bpd to 13.4 million bpd last week, compared to the week ended Jan. 10, according to EIA data.
Refinery utilization rates were 85.9%, below the 91.7% reported the prior week.
WTI and Brent futures contracts dipped today following comments from President Donald Trump, who stated that his administration will ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower oil prices by releasing withheld output, during his virtual participation at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Thursday.
"If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately," Trump said, according to a Dow Jones report.
During the inauguration of his second term on Monday, Trump signed executive orders for the energy sector, which included the instruction to reactivate drilling activity in the U.S. territories to boost oil production.
But analysts believe additional U.S. oil crude output will put downward pressure on oil prices globally, potentially affecting U.S. refiner's margins.
The February NYMEX WTI futures contract fell by $0.98 to $74.46 bbl, and the March ICE Brent futures contract edged down by $0.86 to $78.14. The February RBOB futures contract rose by $0.0024 to $2.0602 gallon while the front-month ULSD futures contract dropped by $0.0166 to $2.4676 gallon.
Maria Eugenia Garcia can be reached at Maria.Garcia@dtn.com